


Settlements

by BlackDog9314



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Established Relationship, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Non-Sexual Intimacy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-04
Updated: 2016-12-04
Packaged: 2018-09-06 08:40:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8743045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackDog9314/pseuds/BlackDog9314
Summary: Castiel heaved a sigh at what he saw as he went through the stack of mail in his and Dean's mailbox, flipping the offending envelope over to see if it said anything else. But it said only 'Mary Campbell' before her and the Winchester brother's former Kansas address, all typed in official-looking text.





	

Castiel heaved a sigh at what he saw as he went through the stack of mail in his and Dean's mailbox, flipping the offending envelope over to see if it said anything else. But it said only 'Mary Campbell' before her and the Winchester brother's former Kansas address, all typed in official-looking text.

The walk back to the house didn't feel like it took long enough, and when Castiel reached the front door Dean was already opening it to let him in, a smile on his face.

“Hey, babe,” he said with a grin. “Sorry I overslept, I didn't get in 'til two last night.”

Castiel reached a hand out to cup the side of Dean's face. “It's fine, it's only eleven. I don't have to leave until three.”

Dean nodded, and they both stepped into the house and closed the door behind them.

It was a cool but sunny Saturday morning, the metallic taste of rain still in the air from yesterday's intermittent sprinkling as above the sun gleamed like a gold pocket watch.

Dean had lit some incense while Castiel was out checking the mail, and the living room smelled like patchouli, the earthy scent wafting to greet Castiel as he made his way to the adjacent kitchen, wanting to turn the coffee maker on so he could use Dean's favorite caffeine/creamer combo to soften whatever might be coming.

“You okay?” Dean asked Castiel as he came up behind him and wrapped strong arms around his middle.

Castiel closed his eyes and inhaled the smell of the hot water hitting the coffee grounds. Dean was warm and firm against him, the faded sandalwood and soap smell of him still discernible, even through that of the fresh coffee.

“There's a letter for your mother in the mail,” Castiel admitted as he turned in Dean's arms.

Dean's face fell the way Castiel had been afraid of, and he quickly wrapped Dean in his arms and held him close to his body for a second before the other man could protest it.

“I'll be here when you open it,” he promised in Dean's ear.

 

Ten minutes later the two men sat at the small dining room table, the letter between them. When Dean made no move to take it, Castiel did, using the letter opener he'd brought over to slice through the white paper and get at what it contained.

_This check is issued pursuant to the terms of the class action settlement styled as Sharon M. Bodney v. Bank of America Overdraft Settlement..._

It went on, but the gist was that the corporation had sent Dean's deceased mother a check for five dollars as per her repeated complaints made to the bank when she'd been still living, after someone else had taken it to court.

Mary had been dead for the past two years, but this wasn't the first settlement check she'd gotten in the mail; another had been from Fortune Marketing for fourteen dollars and twenty-four cents, a company that hadn't been giving their customers their promised refunds since the early 2000's, and still another had been from State Farm Insurance for less than ten dollars only three months after her death.

“It's another settlement check,” Castiel told Dean quietly as he handed him the letter. Dean nodded, his eyes far away as he stuffed the paper back into the envelope and stood to take it to the office near the back of the house.

Castiel followed him cautiously, not sure if his boyfriend wanted to be alone or not.

Dean's back was to him when Castiel entered the small office, its bright green walls cheerful and verbose when Dean was anything but.

“Dean?” Castiel said tentatively.

Dean turned to face him, the letter still in his hand. “Yeah?” he asked. He sounded like he was forcing himself to keep his tone one of casual lightness.

“Are you going to put it with the others?” Castiel asked. Dean never cashed the checks. He always said that it was because they were so little money as to be almost useless, but Castiel suspected that the reason was something else entirely.

“'Course,” Dean mumbled as he turned back around, opening a drawer in the dark mahogany desk and shoving the envelope into its depths.

“Do you want to take a bath? I got one of those bath bomb things the other day. It's supposed to smell like apples and sugar,” Castiel offered. Dean nodded without turning around, and Castiel took that as his cue, and left the room to go to the master bath and get the tub ready.

It wasn't a particularly large bathtub, but that was part of why Castiel liked being in it with Dean so much, though he'd probably never summon the nerve to say so. Every time they got into it together they ended up pressed way too close to one another, slippery and sweating and damp with steam and soapy water.

Castiel turned the silver knob of the faucet, looking into the frosted glass of the window in their bathroom and seeing faintly the green and brown of the backyard just beyond it. They should take the dog for a walk together after this, he thought to himself.

He held a hand under the heating water as it ran and ran into the cream-white of the tub, shivering pleasurably at the feel of it on his skin.

Castiel was already sitting and partially submerged when Dean came in from the office, stripping himself of his black henley and old jeans without preamble. Castiel stared at him from his seat in the tub as Dean leaned forward and began the arduous task of carefully stepping into the water. He crouched down to slip softly onto his backside, sitting himself down carefully in the 'v' of Castiel's thighs.

Once Dean was settled, his back pressed against Castiel's chest, they sat there together, still and silent for almost ten minutes as the bathroom filled with warm, wet air and they grew used to the temperature of the water. It smelled sweet, the effects of the bath bomb growing stronger as the moments ticked by.

Castiel had his arms wrapped around Dean, his lips pressed to the top of his head and his feet folded underneath Dean's knees and his pelvis flush against the base of Dean's spine; they were as close as they could be in that moment, and it made Castiel almost drowsy with the practiced, familiar joy of it, of them together. He dropped a kiss to Dean's hair, wanting to ask if he wanted to talk, but knowing his boyfriend wouldn't say a word more than he wanted to.

“I, uh...I wish she'd been alive to get all these stupid checks. They're not shit, I know that, but...she should've known she was right all along, that every time some stupid fucker screwed her over and told her 'it's within our rights to take all your shit and never give it back', that all those times she was right, and that they weren't.” Dean said the words in one breath, his body stiff in Castiel's arms as he spoke.

Castiel felt sadness at the words, and helped Dean as the other man partially turned in the small space allotted them, his green eyes meeting Castiel's blue in the soft afternoon light.

“She deserved to get all those,” Dean said, a tremor in his voice making it sound as if he expected Castiel to say she didn't.

But Castiel nodded, “She did, Dean. She did.”

He'd never gotten to meet Mary, considering her death occurred almost seven months before he and Dean ran into each other (literally) at a meet-up for local writers and began dating shortly after. But a day spent with Dean had never passed in which he didn't wish he somehow had.

Relief made a smooth mask of Dean's features, and the sight of it almost made Castiel want to cry. He leaned forward to drag his lips over Dean's cheek, and said softly, “I love you.”

“I love you, too, baby,” Dean murmured as his eyes closed and he leaned into Castiel's lips and his arms.

A few minutes later they got out of the tub and fell into bed still wet, falling asleep together under a patch of pale sunlight.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure what this was. It was something I sort of felt compelled to write, based in my personal life. I hope you liked some aspect of it <3


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